Spurs 2-1 Brighton: Shock Seagulls starting XI push Spurs close

The danger with a 7.15pm kick off on a Sunday evening is that you end up going into a game having had one too many bottles of Merlot with lunch. When the Brighton team was announced for the 2-1 defeat away at Spurs, it looked like Graham Potter had been hitting the claret too as he named an extraordinary starting XI.

Whenever we are asked to carry out a pre-game interview with an opposition website or podcast, one of the questions is normally “What is your prediction for Brighton’s line up?”

We never answer it. You have got more hope of correctly guessing the lottery numbers or securing a date with Lily James than you have of second guessing what is going on in Potter’s mind.

But even by his high standards of unpredictability, the team which took to the field at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was ridiculous.

Maty Ryan was dropped in favour of 22-year-old debutant Robert Sanchez, a player who two months ago was fourth choice goalkeeper and whose experience of first team football extends as far as loan spells with Forest Green Rovers and Rochdale.

Sanchez had not even been used in Brighton’s run to the Carabao Cup fourth round – Jason Steele had kept net for the stiffs in all three matches.

Fantasy Premier League managers were sent into a spin as you cannot even buy Sanchez in the game with the organisers of FPL thinking he had no chance of featuring this season.

Sanchez had quite literally been promoted from nowhere to start in goal against the most in-form strike partnership in the country of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

It was a bold call from Potter but one which ultimately worked out well. Sanchez did not put a foot wrong, including making an excellent second half save from Joel Veltman of all people.

The lack of genuine competition for Ryan has been a bit of a concern for some time. Now, he may suddenly have two challengers for the number one shirt with Sanchez’s surprise emergence and Christian Walton back in training following his pre-season injury. That can only be a good thing.

Whilst the selection of Sanchez was a success, less so was Potter’s decision to drop Neal Maupay and Aaron Connolly from the squad completely.

Leandro Trossard was left to plough a lonely furrow out-of-position as a lone striker. It was hardly surprise that once again, the Albion lacked a cutting edge to go with their neat possession play.

If we cannot convert chances when we name actual centre forwards in our line up, what chance have we got when two of our leading strikers are dropped completely from the bench?

The last time a Brighton manager had named such a shock starting XI was when Mark McGhee took his side to Southampton in January 2006. Florent Chaigneau started in goal, Kerry Mayo in central midfield, an 18-year-old Joel Lynch made his full debut at left back and teenager Joe Gatting came off the bench.

It later transpired that McGhee’s bizarre team was in part down to a massive breakdown in discipline amongst the squad, culminating in the wonderful rumour of him throwing Leon Knight off the team coach in the middle of the New Forest.

Potter said that all his decisions for the 2-1 defeat to Spurs were purely tactical, but the Brighton rumour mill began swirling almost instantly – especially regarding the complete exclusion of Maupay and Connolly.

You might take them out of the starting XI, but to drop them completely from the squad? Something must have happened behind the scenes.

The most popular theories were positive Covid-19 tests, a falling out with Potter or a discipline issue similar to the one which sparked McGhee’s bout of madness 14 years previously. Maybe they didn’t learn enough or take the positives from the 1-1 draw with West Brom, as Potter had wanted?

Whilst the Albion team may have had an unusual look to it, what happened on the pitch was an all too familiar story for this season. Lots of nice football, not enough goals to show for it, a horrible moment of defending and some ridiculous refereeing decisions all combining to send Brighton to a 2-1 defeat at Spurs.

The hosts’ opener arrived when Kane conned his way to a spot kick on 13 minutes as he backed into Adam Lallana, sending the Albion midfielder tumbling over his back as Lallana attempted to win a header.

Had Lallana landed a little more awkwardly, he could have broken his neck. Incredibly, VAR took a look and decided that Lallana was the guilty party and so awarded a penalty.

Even more incredible was that this ‘foul’ very clearly took place outside the box. After endangering the life of Lallana, Kane duly beat Sanchez from 12 yards to give Spurs the lead.

There is much to like about Kane. He is England captain, will one day be the Three Lions’ and Premier League’s record goal scorer, sponsored Leyton Orient to help keep them in business and has worked his way up through a succession of loan spells in the lower leagues.

But he is also a cheat. Not just for the penalty; both Son and he went down more easily than a lady of the night down an Amsterdam side street at times.

For a side who became known for their brilliant football under Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs have been turned into a team whose best route to victory now seems to be via diving, complaining and being a general embarrassment.

To compound the misery of seeing that penalty given, Brighton were then denied an obvious spot kick when Trossard was prevented from reaching a ball into the box by Matt Doherty grabbing him around the neck.

You see Owen Farrell sent off for less on a regular basis – and that is in bloody rugby. That neither Graham Scott nor Jonathan Moss watching on VAR thought it worthy of a penalty was staggering.

There was plenty of controversy about Brighton’s equaliser as well as Solly March very clearly fouled Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the build up. The ball eventually found its way to Pascal Gross who teed up Tariq Lamptey to open his Brighton account with a calm finish.

Mr Scott was told about March’s questionable slide tackle and so trotted over to the pitch side monitor to take a look. Despite having watched it back, he somehow concluded that March had not done anything wrong and allowed the goal to stand. The only possible conclusion was that Mr Scott was trying to even things out after his two first half howlers

It was the first time in Premier League history that a referee had watched back a replay and not changed his decision, leaving Jose Mourinho and Spurs incensed. Which was ironic given that their 1-0 lead and had been handed to them and maintained by two equally poor pieces of officiating.

All this furore over whether the goal should have stood plus this being Lamptey’s first career goal meant that Gross’ role in the equaliser was overshadowed.

The German had been the beneficiary of Potter’s decision to bin off Maupay, making his first league start of the season. Premier League assist number 16 followed, meaning that Gross has now teed up double the amount of Brighton top flight goals of any other player. A lot of fans may not like Gross, but you cannot argue with his stats or what he brings to the party on the rare occasions Potter starts him.

Unfortunately for Brighton, they had no-one to blame but themselves for the goal that gave Spurs their 2-1 victory. 17 minutes after Lamptey struck, Sergio Reguilon swung over a cross from the left which found the unmarked Gareth Bale to head past Sanchez.

You cannot afford to give a four-times Champions League winner who earns £600,000 a week such an easy chance. Adam Webster copped most of the blame for the goal, but Brighton had three central defenders on the pitch at the time with Veltman and Burn alongside the stand-in skipper.

The fact that not one of them was aware of or able to get close to Bale is a real concern, deepening worries about the number of simple opportunities this Brighton side give to opponents. When you struggle to score at one hand and regularly concede at the other, you will fid it difficult to win games of football.

Which is what the Albion need to do now. After Potter’s whinge about supporters’ expectations in the week, we should probably point out that most Brighton fans would have expecting a 2-1 defeat to Spurs. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was never likely to be where Premier League win number two of the season arrived.

Friday night’s home game with Burnley is a different story, however. Brighton have to win. Victory against the Clarets will put the Albion onto eight points from eight games, a good start given that four of those fixtures have come against Chelsea, Manchester United, Spurs and table topping Everton.

Lose to Burnley and it is five points from eight, four wins in our past 26 Premier League games since the start of 2020 and a season which will suddenly be turning into another slog against relegation. Nice football alone does not win your points to stay in the top flight – you have to get results.

We might need several more bottles of Merlot to get us through Friday.